People are lining up to shop at Amazon Go’s new ‘queue-free’ concept store

Living in Amazon's World3:00

Amazon’s reach is greater than any U.S. company, so WSJ’s Katherine Bindley decided to go on an Amazon diet, using its products and services whenever and wherever she could. Image: Evan Engel / The Wall Street Journal

But that hasn’t stopped long lines of people queuing up outside the store for the privilege of shopping there.

The online retailer opened its groundbreaking Amazon Go concept store to the public in Seattle in the US yesterday after a year-long test phase.

One day later, it seems to have already become a victim of its own success, with bemused passers-by taking to social media to point out the irony of shoppers queuing to experience a queue-free supermarket.

I’m in Seattle and there is currently a line to shop at the grocery store whose entire premise is that you won’t have to wait in line. pic.twitter.com/fWr80A0ZPV

According to Amazon, the store creates a shopping “experience” with no lines or check-outs, allowing customers to “simply take what they want and go”.

Shoppers enter the futuristic store by scanning the Amazon Go app on their mobile at a turnstile, and every item taken from the shelf is added to the individual customer’s virtual cart thanks to “the world’s most advanced shopping technology”.

Amazon uses cameras, algorithms and weight sensors to determine what shoppers have added to their trolley, and customers pay electronically through an account linked to their account when they leave the store using “Just Walk Out” technology.

The company bought Whole Foods last year, adding 470 grocery stores to its arsenal.

Amazon Go was originally due to open to the public in early 2017, but the launch was pushed back after the company encountered problems with technology, including difficulties identifying shoppers with similar body types.

The system also couldn’t cope when children moved items to different places in the store during the trial.

The store was originally due to open to the public in early 2017, but the launch was pushed back after the company encountered problems with technology. Picture: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images/AFPSource:AFP

In an interview with The Sun, Amazon Go vice president Gianna Puerini said despite the minor issues, the technology had performed well during testing.

“This technology didn’t exist. It was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning,” she said.

The company’s technology has since learned to tell apart near-identical products.

After more than a year in beta, Amazon opened the cashier-less store to the public. Picture: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images/AFPSource:AFP

If the world-first store is a hit with shoppers, it could be rolled out across more locations in future.